In the deserts and arid climates of North and Central America lives a lizard that looks like a toad. This lizard is named the Horned Lizard and is nicknamed the Horned Toad. This is rather confusing considering that it is actually a lizard, but it was not my job to name it. The Horned Toad is very squat in appearance and has a very flat body.  On this flat body, there are spines or “horns” that protrude from its body.  The reason they are called “horns,” is because they have large spines around their head that resemble the horns of a gazelle or other horned animal. The Horned Lizard is not very large, and is about the relative size of a teacup. Because of their small size, they feed on small prey. Their diet consists of beetles, grasshoppers, spiders, and especially ants. They do not eat other vegetables like a bearded dragon or other similar lizards would, they are completely carnivorous. Despite the intimidating connotation that comes with being a carnivore, the Horned Lizard is not really very feared. Many other things, such as birds of prey, snakes, other larger lizards, dogs, wolves, and coyotes, prey upon it. Due to how many other predators they have, the Horned Lizard has evolved to have too amazing defensive adaptations. If the Horned Lizard were to be attacked by a coyote, it would use these two adaptations to get away. The first is inflating its own body. The Horned Lizard would suck in air and expand its spiked body as much as twice its original size.  By this point the Horned Lizard looks like one big spiky balloon, and this is usually enough to make the coyote not want to eat it. If the coyote was persistent and continued in its attempt to eat the Horned Lizard, the lizard would pull out its secret weapon. The Horned Lizard would look the coyote straight in the eyes, and with a pinch of its muscles, shoot blood out of its eyes directly at the coyote! This disorienting shot of blood would confuse the coyote and distract it. In this moment of distraction, the Horned Lizard would turn tail, and escape the encounter with only a little bloodshed.

The ability to shoot blood from its eyes is one of the coolest things about the Horned Lizard. Not all species can do this, but some can, and when they do it is amazing. They do it through the ducts of their eyes. They have muscles in their face that contract around these ducts and shoot the blood like a squirt gun. I relate it to how some people can squirt milk from their tear ducts with pure effort. It is a really cool adaptation and makes the Horned Lizard truly unique. It’s animals with unique abilities like these that make me interested in them. I hope that by reading this you have become a little more interested in the Horned Lizard too.